Body Plan of 74-gun Terrible The 74-gun Terrible was lately launched in Toulon dockyard. Built after a design by François Coulomb the Younger, aged 48, this ship seems to be the prototype of a new sort of mighty two-deckers. Coulomb streamlined and enlarged the hull of former 74s so as to reach superb qualities of seakeeping and of swiftness as well as to accommodate 28 guns at the main deck, 30 guns at the upper deck, 10 guns at the quarterdeck and 6 more at the forecastle

Harrison's Chronometer H1 John Harrison, 46 years old, trials his first marine chronometer H1, built last year, on a round trip between London and Lisbon. A total failure on the way outward - it lost time -, the way back brings an encouraging success in the form of a precise landing against a 60-mile error in longitude for the traditional method of navigation by dead reckoning and by position shift through sun observation. This unexpected half-success rouses the Board of Lon

John Hadley John Hadley, a mathematician aged 49, presents a new instrument of navigation, the octant, also known as the reflecting quadrant, at the Royal Society. A member of the Royal Society, he is already and rightly famous as the inventor of the parabolic reflecting telescope which he presented ten years ago. Three other person at least are working on an instrument of the same sort these days : (1) Thomas Godfrey, 27, a glazier, likely ahead of the group by one or two y

Le Neptune François, recueil de cartes marines publié en 1693 The French navy ministry establishes the ‘Dépôt des cartes et plans, journaux et mémoires concernant la navigation’ which is the first official wide-purpose Hydrography Office in the world, but not the prototype of a dedicated organisation. Its purpose looks like the one assigned to the School of Sangres (1420-60) by Prince Henry the Navigator (†1460) according to the facts and legends about his method of explorati

Edmund Halley Edmund Halley, the famous astronomer whom we already acknowledged in previous chronicles, now aged 45, publishes the General Chart of the Variation of the Compass. This chart is based on his observations that he made aboard the Paramour – a weird name for a science-purpose warship. Halley was given command of this 90-ton 6-gun pink in 1698-1700 for the purpose of a hydrographic exploration of the Atlantic ocean to determine the variation of Magnetic North agains

Royal Sovereign 1701 A new Establishment extends standardisation of warships to a larger number of dimensions – hence the constraints to...

José Antonio de Gaztañeta The shipyards of Orio and Pasajes, west and east of San Sebastian, build six 60-gun ships of the line, three...

Isaac Newton The Longitude Act is passed by the Parliament ‘ for providing a Publick Reward for such Person or Persons as shall...

On the 22nd of October, three ships of the line, the 90-gun Association , the 70-gun Eagle , and the 50-gun Romney run aground on the Western reefs of Scilly islands. They founder with all hands but one. The fireship Firebrand also goes ashore and sinks with half her crew. The 90-gun St George and the fireship Phoenix strike on the reefs too but manage to get off. On her own, the 100-gun Royal Anne escapes the rocks within a hair. A thousand and three hundreds sail

The British Admiralty establishes a standardisation and a specification of the general dimensions for the next vessels to be built. ¤ ...